"Gustav Vasa"
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Gustav Eriksson (Vasa) was the first of the Vasa dynasty (1496 -1560). He was Swedish King from 1523. He was the founder of modern Sweden and a beloved monarch, but also a tough guy. One of his major 'accomplishments' was to take away the power of the Catholic Church in Sweden and turn into a Lutheran state owned church. He confiscated the possessions of the Catholic Church, which made him able to pay the Swedish debts caused by a lot of warfare. Another accomplishment was that he managed to get the parliament to agree to a law that made the throne inheritable and by doing that he became a sovereign ruler of Sweden. Before this time they used to elect the kings, or just battle about it of course, lol ;-) He actually was never called Gustav Vasa during his lifetime, only Gustav Eriksson. His father was Erik Johansson Vasa, who was executed by Christian II at the Stockholm bloodbath (see above). You can see this painting of Gustav Vasa at Gripsholm Castle.